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MEMBER DIARY

Why I’m Supporting Rick Santorum for President

In this ongoing Presidential election, there are many candidates out there angling for our support. After long and careful consideration, I have decided to support former US Senator Rick Santorum, and here are the issues on which I base my support:

1. Health Care: Mr. Santorum has been a long-time proponent of market-driven, patient-centered health care solutions. He believes that everybody should have access to high-quality and affordable health care, with decisions being made by patients and their doctors instead of by government. If elected, Santorum will work to repeal President Obama’s universal health care plan, make more readily available such options as Health Savings Accounts and high deductible insurance plans, reduce health care costs through competition, allow patients to buy coverage with pre-tax dollars, and enact meaningful tort reform. By contrast, Mitt Romney was the genius behind the universal health care system in Massachusetts on which Obama based his health care system, and Newt Gingrich was, at one time or another, a proponent of the individual mandate, which was an instrumental part of Obama’s health care plan.

2. Second Amendment: Mr. Santorum is an ardent defender of every law abiding citizen’s Second Amendment rights. As a US Senator, Santorum wrote legislation eliminating the requirement that fishermen and hunters turn over their Social Security numbers when obtaining a license, supported legislation protecting law-abiding gun manufacturers and dealers from frivolous lawsuits, and vehemently opposed the Assault Weapons Ban, guided by his belief that the real answer to gun violence is the enforcement of existing laws. If elected, Santorum would be guided by the same principles that guided him through those votes in the Senate. By contrast, Romney was a supporter of gun control during his gubernatorial run and signed gun control legislation into law on July 1, 2004.

3. Entitlements & Spending: Rick Santorum believes that entitlement reform and caps on spending are the way to economic solvency. He believes we must live within our means, prioritize our national security and defense spending, refocus the government on constitutional principles, consolidate duplicative programs, eliminate wasteful programs, and reform and modernize Medicare and Social Security in order to put us on the path to fiscal solvency. If elected, Santorum pledges to cut $5 trillion of congressional spending within five years, reduce spending levels down to at least 2008 levels, freeze defense and entitlement spending levels for five years, pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, stop the implementation of all remaining federal stimulus dollars, freeze pay for federal workers for four years, eliminate agriculture and energy subsidies, and eliminate funding for the following: United Nations-owned agencies, the National Labor Relations Board, Dodd/Frank regulatory reform, and Planned Parenthood. He also vows to phase out bankrupt mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac within five years and sell wasteful and inefficient federal properties. By contrast, during his term of office as Governor, spending levels increased by 32%(from $26.3 billion to $34.7 billion), which does not account for the costs of RomneyCare.

4. Foreign Policy: Rick Santorum is one of the few people sounding the alarm about the dangers that Iran poses to the United States. While a US Senator, he sponsored a bill authorizing taxpayer dollars to support Iranian pro-democracy movements and keep dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from attaining a nuclear warhead. If elected, Santorum will assist Iranian pro-democracy groups, refuse to negotiate with Iran, work with Israel to deflect the nuclear threat and determine the proper course of military action against Iran, treat all scientists tied to the Iranian regime as enemy combatants, freeze bank accounts and issue travel restrictions to Iranian officials, build a comprehensive missile defense system, re-evaluate the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and authorize research into the threats posed by an electromagnetic pulse attack. This all sharply contrasts with Ron Paul’s views on this matter. Paul’s positions are that Iranian affairs are none of our business, that it does not concern us if Iran attains a nuclear weapon, and that Israel’s safety is of no importance in the greater scheme of things.

5. Taxes: Mr. Santorum is a staunch advocate for lower taxes and a simplified tax code. As a US Senator, he voted for both Bush tax cuts. If elected, Santorum will work to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Death Tax, the Marriage Tax penalties, the cap on deductions for losses stemming from real estate sales, the corporate income tax for manufacturers, and the tax on repatriated taxable corporate income. He would also work to lower the capital gains and dividend taxes, to triple personal tax deductions for every child, to cut the corporate tax rate in half, to retain deductions for charitable giving and necessities, and to increase and make permanent the research & development tax credit. By contrast, taxes went up during Romney’s tenure to pay for programs he implemented.

6. Life & Marriage: Rick Santorum is one of the leaders in the charge against abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem cell research. As a US Senator, he supported measures banning both partial birth abortions and judicial extension of marriage rights to same-sex and unmarried couples. He also supported extending legal protection both to babies who survive attempts at induced abortion and to unborn babies who are victims of crimes. If elected, Santorum would work to stop taxpayer funding of both overseas abortions and embryonic stem cell research. He would also defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, ban all chaplains from performing same-sex marriage ceremonies on federal property, and amend the Constitution to include a Personhood Amendment(declaring everybody, born and unborn, a person) and a Federal Marriage Act(banning judicial extension of marriage rights to same-sex and unmarried cohabiting couples). By contrast, Gingrich and Romney have taken alternating positions on these issues through the years, while Paul is a proponent of same-sex marriage.

7. Border Security & Immigration: Rick Santorum is an ardent proponent of securing our borders and restricting illegal immigration. As a US Senator, Santorum opposed amnesty, in-state tuition, health care services, Welfare, and educational benefits for illegal immigrants. In addition, he opposed chain migration(meaning one immigrant sponsors numerous other immigrants for admission), the establishment of guest worker programs, and allowing illegals to participate in Social Security. He supported building a border fence on the mexican border, the visa lottery, allowing foreign workers into the US for farm work, and visas for skilled workers. If elected, Santorum would do as he did in the Senate and fight to secure our borders and to make the legal immigration process faster and more efficient so that we can attract skillful, talented entrepreneurs from all regions around the world. Contrast this with Romney, who has favored an in-state tuition program and hired illegals for work at his home, and Paul, who has compared a border fence to the Iron Curtain, and you see the stark differences.

8. Energy & Offshore Oil Drilling: Rick Santorum is an ardent proponent of energy independence and offshore oil drilling. As a US Senator, Santorum opposed disallowing oil leasing programs in Alaska’s “Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;” opposed slashing oil usage by 40% by 2040; and opposed banning drilling in ANWR. He supported the Bush administration’s energy policy, which targeted 100,000 hydrogen powered vehicles by 2010, drilling in ANWR on national security grounds, preserving a budget for ANWR oil drilling, and the authorization of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. If elected, Santorum would approve the Keystone Pipeline slated to go from Canada, through the Midwest, to Illinois. By contrast, Romney opposed the Yucca Mountain Repository.

In conclusion, I hope this endorsement has been informative and has convinced you to support Rick Santorum for president. Since this election is the most important one in modern times, there is a high volume of other options out there, so choose carefully.